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FreeDOS brought MS-DOS back from the dead. Was it useless? In my opinion, far from it. Yes, Palm is useless and archaic of networked features are your #1 use c

FreeDOS brought MS-DOS back from the dead. Was it useless? In my opinion, far from it. Yes, Palm is useless and archaic of networked features are your #1 use case for a PDA (smartphone) and there’s little use reviving it. However, if you care about old Palm games, or about efficiently organising your life with minimum distractions, then IMO not many modern devices will beat a Palm OS device. Analogously to MS-DOS, there is a huge application base that you can dip into for most tasks that don’t require online access, that can still be used today. The UI is miles ahead of both iOS and Android, IMO (in both responsiveness and look-and-feel), if you are willing to work within its limitations (that include using a stylus). Dmitry is even working on Unicode support. I’m glad that RePalm exists. If it didn’t, all we’d be left with is emulators and devices that are starting to fall apart.

muyuu 4y ago
FreeDOS is exactly what I was describing. Makes sense to use that old software, but not to actually develop for these days. Because you'd be imposing weird anachronistic restrictions on yourself for no good reason.
- dmitrygr 4y ago
  > Because you'd be imposing weird anachronistic restrictions on yourself for no good reason. Learning to count every byte has value today too, and this is practice in that skill
- troad 4y ago
  > imposing weird anachronistic restrictions on yourself for no good reason It's worth noting that this also describes virtually all poetry, the rules of all sports, etc. :)
- selfhoster11 4y ago
  The C64 demo scene is still alive and well today. Restrictions sometimes are the point.
  - muyuu 4y ago
    yea for recreational computing nobody is trying to bring back C64 compatibility as a practical platform though, they are working on emulators and in the legacy machines themselves I love the C64 demo scene myself, it was my main introduction to computing back in the day

muyuu 4y ago

FreeDOS is exactly what I was describing. Makes sense to use that old software, but not to actually develop for these days. Because you'd be imposing weird anachronistic restrictions on yourself for no good reason.

dmitrygr 4y ago
> Because you'd be imposing weird anachronistic restrictions on yourself for no good reason. Learning to count every byte has value today too, and this is practice in that skill
troad 4y ago
> imposing weird anachronistic restrictions on yourself for no good reason It's worth noting that this also describes virtually all poetry, the rules of all sports, etc. :)
selfhoster11 4y ago
The C64 demo scene is still alive and well today. Restrictions sometimes are the point.
- muyuu 4y ago
  yea for recreational computing nobody is trying to bring back C64 compatibility as a practical platform though, they are working on emulators and in the legacy machines themselves I love the C64 demo scene myself, it was my main introduction to computing back in the day